Garment-stretcher.



No. 670,8!7. Patented Mar. 26, 190i. W. H. SHINDLER.

GARMENT STBETCHER.

lAppiicatiqn filed June 23, 1900.) (N 0 Modal.)

mum II I 0 1 WITNESSES: I INVENTO UNTTTZD STATES PATENT OFFICE...

WALTER HENRY SHINDLER, OF WEST NEW BRIGHTON, NEW YORK.-

GARM ENT-STRETCHER.

SPEGIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 670,817, dated March 26, 1901.

Application filed June 23, 1900. Serial No. 21,352. (No model-l To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WALTER HENRY SHIN- DLER, a subject of the Queen of Great Britain, and a resident of the city of New York, (West Nev. Brighton, borough of Richmond,) in the countyof Richmond and State of New York, have in vented a new and Improved Device for Oreasing, Pressing, and Stretching Trousers,of which the following is a full,clear, and exact description.

The purpose of the invention is to provide a device which will press, crease, and stretch trousers and hold them for any length of time under treatment and to so construct the device that it may be suspended from a support or lie upon a support and be compactly folded when not in use.

Another feature of the invention is to provide means for attaching the pressing and creasing members of the device in such position that the trousers may be conveniently and leisurely placed in position for treatment, which retaining mediums may be quickly disengaged from the pressingand creasing members, permitting the said members to automatically and almost simultaneously assume a pressing and creasing position upon the trousers.

The invention consists in the novel construction and combination of the several parts, as will be hereinafter fully set forth, and pointed out in the claims.

Referenceis to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar characters of reference indicate corresponding parts in all the figures.

Figure 1 is a perspective view of the improved device folded. Fig. 2 is a front elevation of the device, illustratinga pair of trousers held in the device. Fig. 3 is a rear elevation of the device and the trousers contained therein. Fig. 4 is a transverse section taken practically on the line 4: a of Fig. 2; and Fig. 5 is a section taken substantially on the same line, illustrating the parts of the device in position to receive a pair of trousers.

Two back boards 10 and 11 are employed, which back boards are of suitable length and width. The back boards are connected at the top by a bail 12 of any description and are further connected directly at the top by a hook and eye 13 and 14, the hook, for example, being pivored on the board 11 and the eye being secured to the board 10. operation of the device these back boards are made to diverge in direction of their lower ends, as shown in Fig. 3, and these back boards may be spread apart at their lower portions to any necessary extent and held thus apart by means of a locking device, which usually consists of a bar 15, pivoted to the back board 11, having teeth 16 at its free end arranged to engage with a keeper 17 or a staple secured upon the back board 10.

Two front or pressing boards 18 and 19 are employed, which boards 18 and 19 serve also to crease the trousers A, placed in the device. The outer longitudinal edges of these pressing or creasing boards 18 and 19 are usually placed some distance inward from the outer longitudinal edges of the back boards 10 and 11, so that strong spring-hinges 20, which are employed to connect the pressing and creasing boards 18 and 19 with the back boards 10 and 11, may be secured to the front faces of the back boards near their longitudinal edges and to the outer faces of the pressing or creasing boards. These springs 20 are so con structedthat they normally force and hold the said members in close contact withthe front faces of the back boards 10 and 11 and in contact with the portions of the trousers A, located between the front boards and back boards.

In order to place the trousers in position in the device, it is necessary that the combined pressing and creasing boards 18 and 19 shall be raised and given an outward inclination in opposite directions, as shown in Fig. 5, and when the pressing and creasing boards are placed in the position just named they may be so held by hooks 22, attached to the longitudinal edges of the back boards, which hooks are adapted to enter eyes 21, located upon what are the front faces of the pressing or creasing boards 18 and 19. To facilitate placing the pressing and creasing boards in the position just described, recesses 23, as shown in Figs. 4 and 5, are made in their under faces at their inner longitudinal edges to permit the fingers to be introduced beneath the said boards.

When the device is opened, as shown in In the Fig. 5, the trousers are properly folded and laid upon the front faces of the back boards 10 and 11, with the waistband downward and below the lower edge of the device, as shown in Figs. 2 andB. After the trousers have been smoothly laid in position the hooks 22 are disengaged from the pressing and creasing boards 18 and 19, whereupon the springs 20, connected with said boards, immediately act to force said boards to an engagement with the outer face of the trousers-legs,pressing the said legs particularly at their front and rear edges, thus forming a perfect crease, and the trousers may be laterally stretched, so as to take out any bulging at the knee or other like defects, by spreading the back boards 10 and 11 apart, as heretofore stated, and finally the trousers are-stretched man ually in a longitudinal direction, so as to render the parts within the device particularly smooth.

The trousers may be left in the device for any length of time, and even when they have been in the device but a short time when removed they will be found to have been pressed, stretched, and properly creased.

The device is exceedingly simple, durable, and. economic and may be expeditiously and conveniently manipulated, and when not needed the back boards may be folded one on the other, the pressing and creasing hoards remaining folded on the back boards, as shown in Fig. 1.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent 1. In a device for pressing, creasing and stretching trousers, the combination, with back members, a bail connecting said members at their upper ends, an auxiliary connecting device located at the upper portions of said back members, and a spreading device located at the lower portion of the said back members, of pressing and creasing members placed longitudinally upon the front faces of the back members, strong springhinges connecting the pressing and creasing members with the outer edge portion of the back members, hooks attached to the side edges of the back members, and keepers carried by the pressing and creasing members, arranged to receive said hooks, whereby the pressing and creasing members may be held at an angle to the back members when an article is to be placed in the device, for the purpose specified.

2. A trousers stretching and pressing device, comprising two back or body boards, a bail connecting the two boards with each other,pressing-boards hingedly carried on the back boards, springs supported on the back boards and engaging the pressing-boards to hold them against the back boards, means for holding the pressing-boards in open position against the tendencies of the springs, and a lock-bar working between the two back boards and serving to hold them spread apart, for

WALTER HENRY SHINDLER.

Witnesses:

J. FRED. AOKER, JNo. M. BITTER. 

